recommendations for twice exceptional child?

[triadofchaos]

our eldest (6.5yo DD) is both profoundly gifted and dyslexic. this is a newly confirmed assessment, but I've suspected this might have been the case for a bit now. she's ridiculously verbal but currently struggling with phonics/reading.

 

i'm looking to revamp our phonics/reading and handwriting/writing plans for the coming year to begin remediating the dyslexia. we're using MCT for grammar, vocab and poetics and she adores it, but i need recommendations for phonics/reading/spelling and handwriting/writing. we're been through OPC, Hooked on Phonics and 100 Easy Lessons but she's plateaued and i'm ready to look for something new with a specific eye out for remediation oriented resources. she's so frustrated b/c she loves history and chemistry and wants to read books that are pushing a jr. high level for the content they hold, but can't get there yet (so i read aloud to her A LOT right now.)

 

also, any good parental educational materials would also be welcome. TIA!

[Guest]

I sympathize - it is frustrating to a child who has the thirst and drive to accumulate knowledge but the process is somehow compromised.

 

While I do not have a dyslexic child, I have one who is gifted and dysgraphic; when she was a very young child her dysgraphia was nearly total. She also had unsuspected vision problems at that age which prevented her from developing reading stamina.

 

What I can suggest from our experience is that while you work on remediating the problems, you give her alternate means for learning in the content areas that interest her. Read aloud all you can stand or that she will allow. Increasingly there are great nonfiction books available as audios, downloads or CDs, as well as a ton of fiction of all levels. There are some nonfiction books that have large sections of pictures and short text; Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything has a children's version in this form. Do hands-on science that requires relatively little reading and writing. When my daughter was younger we went through about half of all the science guides from GEMS: http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/GEMS Many of these include instructions and worksheets that allow young kids to "read" and understand them through pictures, and ask them to draw responses based on what they observe rather than write much. ASK magazine is a wonderful science-based magazine for kids that would allow your daughter to acquire some of that knowledge she's eager for without having to make it through a book-length treatment. Museums and zoos often have terrific hands-on classes for young children that would not involve reading or writing; we went to the most wonderful program through our Wild Animal Park for seven years, and also went A LOT to the aerospace museum, natural history museum, and science museum (you can check for kids' free days, which many places offer).

 

Hope some of these suggestions are useful to you.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin was diagnosed profoundly gifted and dyspraxic. I think that the gifted label was an overstatement in his case (from the SB-LM) but the poor motor skills have been a continuing issue. We have done a lot of work orally, whilst working on his gross and fine motor skills separately. This is in contrast to when he was in school, where he had no way of displaying the knowledge he had because so much had to be done in writing.

 

Best of luck,

 

Laura

Edited June 15, 2010 by Laura Corin

[TaraHen]

I haven't used it or really looked into it myself b/c we don't have the dyslexia piece, but I remember a program that was highly regarded on the boards a while back called AVKO-- (might have had one called sequential spelling or something like it). Anyway, I think it was developed for dyslexic students and I remember there'd been a very positive buzz about it. Pretty sure it's the same one my friend used with her dd w/ great success (I can check if you;d like me to email her).

 

My best Lit professor in college was dyslexic-- and he ended up making his living reading lit all the time and publishing articles, papers, and books of his own :001_smile:

 

Anyway, hth.

 

Tara

[Colleen in SEVA]

All About Spelling is working well for my DS who is gifted/dyslexic. He uses it mostly as a spelling program, but it is reinforcing the phonics (some people use it to teach reading, but he was already reading at a basic level when he started AAS).

 

Letter tiles are used for the lesson so writing isn't a roadblock, but there are dictation phrases and sentences you can build up to. You could do these on a dry erase board rather than paper.

 

I would definitely recommend starting at level 1 for a dyslexic child, and take your time in the first 2 books even though the words are simple because it lays a great foundation to build on in the later books.

 

http://www.all-about-spelling.com/what-is-dyslexia

[melmichigan]

My DD doesn't have a diagnosis at this point but has many of the signs of dyslexia. She had reached an impass with HOP. We started reading with a guide card and using audio books for her to follow. We use AAS, we began with level 1, it does lay the foundation. Recently she just took off in her reading and will now start HOP level 3 after struggling with the 1st for almost two years. I just kept putting it away when she struggled. We also use HWT, because two of my other children are dysgraphic.

 

Things like BrainPop/ BrainPop Jr, Discovery Streaming, Time4Learning, Reading Eggs (more recently) and others that do the reading aloud as well as lots of books on CD have saved me in the mean time. ETC online didn't help, although she enjoys the workbooks, nor did Click on Reading.

 

You may want to post on the special needs board also, there are a few people I am thinking of that can offer excellent advice to help remediate beyond AAS, and how to evaluate where to start, things like Barton and Spalding and others.

Edited June 15, 2010 by melmichigan

[EKS]

Some things that seemed to help my son, who is HG+ and has dyslexia:

 

Vision therapy

Audiblox

Occupational therapy

 

As for reading, I loosely followed what's outlined in Reading Reflex. But the key was once he learned the code, which took a while, to have him read aloud *daily* for a long time. Start with materials somewhat below her reading level (where she reads comfortably and easily--this may be nowhere at first) and gradually work up. You want her reading aloud for about 20-30 minutes per day. This might take a few years.

 

Now for the gifted part. Read everything aloud and be her scribe. I did this for *years*.

 

As for materials for you, Overcoming Dyslexia is a great book as is anything written by Brock and Fernette Eide. The Eides' speciality is gifted individuals with dyslexia so they really get it.

[triadofchaos]

Thank you all very much! I really appreciate the jump start!

[higginszoo]

Reading Reflex is designed as a remedial program and puts phonics in terms of puzzles, which seems like it might be a good way for a PG child to assimilate some of the concepts, since that's something that usually appeals to them. I used it with my children when they were pretty young, just because the kinesthetic aspect of it seemed to be pretty age-appropriate.

[nitascool]

In reference to AVKO it's a great remediation program for the older student. It may not be much help for your 6yo though. Sequential Spelling 1 is designed for remediation of the older student or use with the average 3rd grader. It would be too difficult for your son if he is not already reading at least a 3rd grade level. You'll find some dyslexia materials for reading, spelling, writing, and typing at the above link. There may be something you can use.

 

I have dyslexia myself. I knew some basic (about 2-3rd grade) reading skills through school but struggled greatly. When my oldest was born I bought Phonics Pathways and went through it myself. It has what she calls "Eyerobics" which helped me a great deal with tracking. After going though this book I can read anything.

 

The biggest thing to remember is to be patient with whatever phonics program you do choose. It's also good to practice the 220 Dolch sight words to help with training the brain to see the patterns of words. Also Starfall might be helpful... or at least fun for your dd.

 

You might also try the special needs board for specific programs that might be of use. Best of luck

[kbed0849]

Look into Discovering Intensive Phonics. It has really made the difference for us. My 6.5 year-old has come a long way in just one month with this program It has a money-back guarantee program. So, it may be worth a try! Good luck! Kim

[Mandy in TN]

The Writing Road to Reading, Riggs, or any other Orton-Gillingham based instruction.

 

Here is where I ended up when I googled Orton-Gillingham.

http://www.learningabledkids.com/reading/inexpensive_reading_programs.htm

 

Mandy